Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

When the Army of the Aude marched forward, it had no idea of ​​the poor condition of the French Army.

When Blücher was defeated in a war, he would throw away his weapons and armor, which would naturally make him look very embarrassed, making the French think that he was vulnerable.

But when he won the battle, he also threw away his weapons and armor, and the French were the ones who were in a miserable state instead.

Solovyov was riding on a horse, personally with the Prussian light cavalry, and next to him was Manstein. When passing through Warsaw before, he also met Rokossovsky. If he had gone to Stuttgart, he might have met Rommel.

But there is also someone with this surname in Poland. Budyonny's cavalry was defeated by a bankrupt old fox in Lviv.

As for the corps commander and the light cavalry acting together, it also boosted the morale of these Prussian troops.

The Prussian army during Blücher's time was not so strictly divided into ranks as it was later.

On the contrary, among the common people, the feudal states in Western Europe seemed to have strict hierarchies and distinct industries, unlike Russia, which has always been considered "barbaric" and "tyrannical". Although feudal serfdom was there, it was not as strict as in Western Europe.

Therefore, in the Prussian army, Solovyov's practice of always being with the soldiers was still able to win the hearts of the soldiers.

"Luban is ahead. The terrain here is good, but our army is weak."

"Major, what do you think?"

"Sir, if we cross the river with our entire army and deploy our forces on the west bank, we will certainly be able to cut off the enemy's retreat, but the dry food we carry is limited."

"Isn't it good to collect grain? In the nearby Saxon villages, it is autumn now and we can collect grain."

Solovyov was a Russian general after all. Although he could put himself in other people's shoes when considering issues, he did not always do so.

"You are from Russia after all. The relationship between Prussia and Saxony has been bad for decades."

As a Prussian, Major Manstein naturally would not mention that his country always wanted to annex Saxony's territory.

After hearing this, Solovyov narrowed his eyes and even began to think about future issues.

During the Seven Years' War, it was also Frederick the Great who launched the war without declaring war, suddenly attacked Saxony, and marched towards Prague, thus triggering the war.

Although Saxony and Prussia were both vassal states of Germany, the relationship between them would certainly not be good. Among the more than 300 vassal states of various sizes in the former Holy Roman Empire, due to Napoleon's arrangements, many of them had died out or been annexed, and only a few still had territories.

By the time the Vienna Conference was about to open, there were only about thirty left, and when they were about to unify,
Some of them have friendly relations with each other, and of course there are also those who dislike each other.

It is indeed a strange phenomenon that in a country like Saxony, the civilians were full of hatred because of the unilateral invasion and coveting of Prussia, but officers sometimes defected to it.

Solovyov's thinking has always been unconventional. When he heard Manstein say this to him, he actually thought that many Saxon troops would be incorporated into the Prussian army in the future, and this could be used.

However, due to the lack of food and the language barrier on the Russian side, he sent the Prussians to collect food.

However, the effect was very poor. Although these Prussian light cavalry quickly brought back the cattle, sheep and horses, some of them looked like they had been involved in a fight.

"What's going on?"

"Those people were unwilling to hand over the animals, so the brothers naturally took action."

Seeing this, Solovyov's face became long.

"Did you hurt anyone?"

"Yes, but they were not killed."

For some Prussian cavalrymen, their bottom line was probably not to kill or maim anyone.

The Germans' military discipline, coupled with the fact that their monarch is also German, seems to be not very good.

If it weren't for the French support, the situation would have been even more unbearable.

"If you have money, you have to pay. If you don't have money, can't you write an IOU?"

He has always been strict in military discipline, and thus influenced his fellow brothers. When Arkady joined the army, he also experienced the Russian army with strict military discipline in Italy. They did not harm the civilians at all. They did not look or sound like the Russian army. Even the Cossacks knew to pay under the persuasion of Grand Duke Constantine.

These Prussian officers were indeed surprised to see such a general, who was different from the ones they had in their own country.

"But we have no money, sir, or else."

Solovyov also knew that for soldiers and officers, spending money and drinking was a daily routine, and getting into debt was inevitable.

But he was unwilling to let these Prussian officers go back, so he called all the German officers among the Russian Hussars.

"Take your followers and these signed checks and go down to collect the grain."

"Mikhail Sergeyevich, who is responsible for this?"

"If you want to put it on my bill, I'll pay for everything I eat. I don't mind the money for a few cows."

Solovyov was indeed quite unique among the generals of the Russian army. He had the right to operate canals and natural rivers granted by the Tsar, shares in several factories, shares in the Russian-American Company, an estate granted by the Tsar, and a dowry brought by his wife.
In terms of economic conditions, he was one of the best. Even when others had to sell their estates to settle their accounts, he only had to spend his own money, although not necessarily in cash.

Seeing that their superior was so straightforward, the officers went down and started collecting grain.

Although it is a temporary measure, it is still useful.

Even if it was not charged to Solovyov's account, Queen Louise would probably come to claim reimbursement later. Compared with her stingy and cowardly husband, her incompetent eldest son and her crying second son, she was still very generous.

Although Russian banks may not be very useful in the countryside of Saxony, these Russian officers look fierce but speak much more friendly.

Although Solovyov looks kind, he is ruthless. Such pretty boys are rare in the Russian army.

As for the queen, Solovyov had mentioned the problem of Prussian military discipline in his previous letter to her, and said that as the commander of the Allied Army, he had no power to punish officers and soldiers other than the Russian army who violated military discipline. If he were to write again, he would probably mention the settlement operation in Luban.

By the time these Russian officers went down to collect food, the subsequent coalition forces had already begun crossing the river from Luban and were ready for battle on the other side.

Solovyov's idea was very simple, which was to build a defense line here, relying on the river to prevent the French army from crossing the river, and even force them to choose to take other directions to delay their actions.

At the same time, if the Silesian Corps led by Blücher could arrive in time and catch the tail of MacDonald's Corps, it would be an even more glorious victory.

When Solovyov entered Luban, Vandam was probably about to arrive near Kulm. If you compare them, it would be very obvious.

As for bringing all the cannons, the Russian artillery that marched all the way from the east actually reached the east coast very quickly. This was an unexpected surprise.

"The artillery did a great job. We were actually able to bring all the artillery here."

"Sir, you have to guard this river and prevent the French from passing through here. You can't do that without cannons. And I think the terrain here is good. If we use our artillery, we can also make them roll back to the other side."

"Well, that's good."

But the number of artillery shells was limited. Many of Solovyov's artillery units were still lagging behind, and according to the Cossack reconnaissance, the French had already approached Luban.

"This is not good. Schwerin's Brigade and the Unicorn Guns are probably still behind us. If they are asked to change their marching route, they have to take a long detour and find a way to get back to Luban's back through the mountains and forests in the north. If they attack from the front, the Prussian infantry will still not be able to do it. However, General von Tillman must lead the Prussian cavalry and Cossacks to the other side, and he will command all the cavalry. As for us, we have to fight a defensive battle here. Karl, let's arrange our positions. This time we have to bleed the French well."

What he was thinking of was a decisive victory. If the French won on the main battlefield, the Allied forces would have won here at Katzbach, and they would have to win another impressive victory in order to stabilize the morale of the army.

The deployment is simple. After all, the river is a natural defense barrier. It’s just that the locals built more bridges here in the past.

Solovyov did not destroy the bridge. If the French still wanted to use this place to break out, they would probably use the wooden bridges and stone bridges in the south. It would probably be too late to build a pontoon bridge.

Simply sending infantry and artillery to guard the bridgehead was enough to cause considerable casualties to the French army.

MacDonald should understand this, but the current situation of his army does not seem to be very good.

Solovyov was able to take the artillery into consideration during his forced march. Although the road was muddy, it did not hinder him at all. Many defeated French soldiers initially wanted to join MacDonald's main force.

The French abandoned a large amount of equipment on the road, especially almost all the artillery of the 5th Army. Lauriston, a general in the artillery, was quite helpless, because if these cannons were not abandoned, the French troops on the front line would probably be blocked on the road.

Therefore, the French army abandoned a large number of artillery, including howitzers, 12-pound guns, and even some damaged 6-pound guns on the roadside.

Just like the Battle of the Trebbia River that year, MacDonald was even pursued by the Russian army at that time, losing a large amount of baggage and artillery along the way, and even lost a large amount of spoils in southern Italy.

This time, it is the same.

Solovyov was on the opposite side. The last time the Russian army pursued the French army like this, Solovyov made a small fortune in Italy, and then gave away artworks and established a lot of connections.

Now that he is a general, he thinks less about this aspect. What he wants more is to win the battle.

However, due to the terrain problems on the front line, he left the Brunswick Army as a reserve, and deployed the Russian Army and Balkan Volunteers on the front line, and the Prussian cavalry on the flanks.

Only Schwerin's brigade and the follow-up artillery were still on the road, and obstacles were set up on the opposite bank of the river in front of the shallows and bridges.

Obviously, in this battle, Solovyov still hoped to close the door and fight the dog, and keep MacDonald's troops on the other side.

When McDonald and his team got close to Luban and the vanguard approached to 3 kilometers, they discovered something unusual. Actually, a coalition force had arrived at Luban before them.

"Your Excellency Marshal, what should we do now?"

The staff officer at the side was still asking for instructions, but for McDonald, the situation was not very good.

The cannons he discarded were probably becoming Blücher's spoils of war, and the Allied forces in front of him were deployed on the other side of the river, obviously intending to let him come and attack.

But taking a detour would obviously be troublesome.

Subsequent French troops were also arriving here one after another at this time.

Even if he wanted to take a detour, he would have to send out detachments to operate upstream and downstream of the river, and there would definitely be constant harassment from the Allied cavalry in the north.

The road to the north was easier to travel, but on the nearest road to that place, Prussian cavalry were seen moving there, accompanied by cavalry artillery. The south was mountainous, so MacDonald realized how serious the situation was.

"We must march toward Luban and open up the passage here. Even if we cannot pass through the city, we must build a floating bridge on the south side."

Although the road there is difficult to travel, there are several high grounds around it. However, with the current strength of the coalition forces here, they can only defend the road in front.

If a few pontoon bridges could be built in the south, the French army would still be able to escape.

But there is also a prerequisite, that is, Blücher's troops did not catch up with the French rear guard in time, or they were satisfied with seizing spoils and capturing prisoners instead of catching up with the main force of the French army.

Blücher's troops were indeed pursuing the French army, but they were also doing these things according to MacDonald's wishes.

But Solovyov in front of him was a different case. He really had to give the French a good lesson here.

Just the sight of the cannons deployed on the opposite bank gave McDonald a headache.

Although it was not out of stupidity that he gave up those cannons, if he could have brought more artillery here, he might have been able to gather his troops and eventually win here in a battle.

Obviously, there is always some difference between plans and reality. Given the current situation of the French army, the only way to boost morale is to encourage the soldiers to break through and avoid being captured by the "barbaric" Russian and Prussian soldiers.

For a French marshal, this was all he could do, which was somewhat reasonable - although he was a Scottish, his family came to France very early.

When Solovyov saw this situation, he put down his telescope and issued the first combat order.

"Fire at the French on the other side. It looks like guests have arrived. We have to entertain them well." (End of this chapter)